SAO PAULO - Brazilian police on Monday broke a vast international ring that took millions of dollars from applicants seeking visas to work in the United States, US and Brazilian officials in Sao Paulo said.

At least 11 people were arrested under 19 warrants issued in Brazil, Sao Paulo state prosecutors said in a statement.

The ring allegedly took up to 15,000 dollars (S$20,851) per applicant on the promise to obtain an HB2 temporary work visa for them for the United States.

The US consulate first detected fraud in the visa paperwork in 2003, launching a years-long joint investigation with Brazilian authorities called Operation Anarchy that involved wiretaps and a Brazilian undercover agent infiltrating the ring.

More than 4,500 Brazilians forked out money to the group over the past seven years, netting it an estimated 90 million reais (S$69.5 million), the prosecutors and the US consulate said in coordinated statements.

The fraud was allegedly also carried out in Russia, the Dominican Republic, Dominica, the Philippines, Romania, and the United Arab Emirates, though no police action was undertaken with those countries.